Toronto should be able to add 50 kilometres of bike lanes to city streets in 2008 if a bureaucratic speed bump is flattened out, says the chair of the bicycle committee.

Toronto should be able to add 50 kilometres of bike lanes to city streets in 2008 if a bureaucratic speed bump is flattened out, says the chair of the bicycle committee.

City council voted 38-3 yesterday to work toward streamlining the process that bounced approval of new bike lanes back and forth between community councils and the works committee.

A city staff report to come in January will recommend cutting community councils out of the process, said Councillor Adrian Heaps, who chairs the cycling committee. Councillors who oppose bike lanes have often managed to stall approval at that level, he said.

Heaps argues that since new transit routes and road construction don't need blessing from community councils, bike lanes shouldn't need it either.

"This has been driven by staff, along with me," Heaps (Ward 35, Scarborough Southwest) said in an interview. "They've been saying: `Hey, for three years we've never got the bike lanes in that we've planned. Let's fix it.'"

The city has a master plan calling for about 500 kilometres of bike lanes, but has fallen far short of its goal. Some 230 kilometres were supposed to be up and pedalling by 2006, but only 70 kilometres have been created.

Under the new process, council will vote each year on which lanes in the master plan should be created, without consulting community councils.

The plan is to start with the bike path of least resistance.

Heaps said he's canvassed fellow councillors about who is and isn't keen on bike lanes in their ward.

Staff have identified 50 kilometres that will get an easy nod for next year, and will bring forward proposals in January, he said.

Heaps wouldn't say where they are except that they're "pretty evenly spread across the city."

The capital budget has earmarked $5.5 million for bike lanes next year, and that should be "ample," Heaps said.

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